1. Field
Apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to mounting an electronic component such as an integrated circuit (IC) chip on a printed substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
To begin with, for the convenience of description of the present application, a component mounting apparatus will be referred to as a mounting apparatus, and a component mounted by the mounting apparatus includes an electronic component.
In general, a mounting apparatus sucks a component from a component supplying portion by using a nozzle, and mounts the component on a predetermined location on a substrate such as a printed circuit board (PCB).
In the mounting apparatus, a leading edge portion of the sucking nozzle is photographed after sucking a component and before mounting the component on the substrate to identify through an image whether the component is sucked by the nozzle and/or a sucking state of the component, in order to prevent, in advance, a defective component from being mounted, misalignment of the component, mounting failure. In addition, in order to identify that the component is properly detached from the nozzle and mounted on the substrate, the leading edge portion of the nozzle is photographed again after the mounting process to recognize the existence of the component through an image.
As a photographing unit for photographing the leading edge portion of the nozzle, a side photographing unit for illuminating and photographing the leading edge portion of the suck nozzle from a side direction is known.
As disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publications Nos. 1998-78309, 2004-349346, and 2006-41158, a related-art side photographing unit illuminates and photographs the leading edge portion of a nozzle in a horizontal direction.
An optical system in the side photographing unit is installed on a nozzle supporting member with the nozzle, and the optical system of the side photographing unit is fixed on the nozzle supporting member while the nozzle may be elevated in an up-and-down direction. That is, an optical axis of the optical system of the related-art side photographing unit is in the horizontal direction.
In the configuration where the optical axis of the optical system is in the horizontal direction, when a sucked state of the component with respect to the nozzle is checked before mounting the component, the nozzle has to be moved in an up-and-down direction to nearly the same height as the optical axis of the optical system in order to photograph the component sucked by the nozzle. On the other hand, when the component is mounted, since other components that are mounted already are located on the substrate, a lower end portion of the optical system has to be disposed higher than a maximum height of the other components in order to avoid interference with the other components for the above checking operation by the optical system.
The moving distance of the nozzle in the up-and-down direction needs to be reduced in order to perform the mounting process at a high speed and improve a mounting accuracy. However, there is a limitation in reducing the moving amount of the nozzle in the related-art mounting apparatus. A height of the component may be reduced in order to reduce the moving distance; however, in this case, there may be a defect in the specifications of the mounting apparatus.